Day: April 16, 2018

Scientists have created a mutant enzyme that breaks down plastic drinks bottles — by accident. The breakthrough could help solve the global plastic pollution crisis by enabling for the first time the full recycling of bottles. From a report: The new research was spurred by the discovery in 2016 of the first bacterium that had naturally evolved to eat plastic, at a waste dump in Japan. Scientists have now revealed…

Nearly all of the vulnerabilities detected in web apps were of a critical nature, with financial services sites the most at risk, according to a Positive Technologies report. Source: http://www.techrepublic.com

Paresh Dave / Reuters: Google to resume accepting ads from US addiction treatment centers in July, nearly a year after suspending the category following reports of deceptive ads — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Google told Reuters Monday it would resume accepting ads from U.S. addiction treatment centers in July … Source: http://www.techmeme.com

David Shepardson, writing for Reuters: T-Mobile USA agreed on Monday to pay $40 million to resolve a government investigation that found it failed to correct problems with delivering calls in rural areas and inserted false ring tones in hundreds of millions of calls, the Federal Communications Commission said. T-Mobile, a unit of Deutsche Telekom, agreed to changes and acknowledged that it had injected false ring tones into hundreds of millions…

New York Times: China’s Weibo backs down from censoring gay content following backlash from users, after saying it would ban it along with other content to comply with new law — BEIJING — With hashtags like #Iamgaynotapervert and images of hearts and rainbows, tens of thousands of Chinese residents took … Source: http://www.techmeme.com

New York City, which once saw an unprecedented infrastructure boom — putting together iconic bridges, opulent railway terminals to build the then world’s largest underground and rapid transit network in just 20 years — has not built a single new subway line in more than seven decades. As New York’s rapid transit system froze, cities across the globe expanded their networks. A closer inspection reveals that things have actually moved…